Mickey Morandini played two full seasons with the Cubs, now lives in Valparaiso and coaches baseball at the high school.

But he will always be a Philadelphia Phillies' fan.

You can't possibly be surprised.

"It's the team that drafted me. I played there for over eight years, 10 years including the minor leagues," Morandini said. "Absolutely, I've been following 'em and pulling for 'em."

Having won 25 of their last 30 games, the Phillies are in their first World Series since 1993 -- back when Morandini starred at second base and batted in the No. 2 spot -- and will begin play Wednesday night against Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field.

"I knew they'd score runs but my biggest concern at the beginning of the year with the Phillies was their pitching staff," Morandini said. "They struggled early but once (Brett) Myers got things straightened out and they traded for (Joe) Blanton, the pitching staff has been real solid the last few months.

"They play good defense. The bullpen is lights out. When you do that, you're always in the ballgame."

Morandini appeared in 120 regular-season games in 1993, batting .247 and stealing 13 bases. He had a .990 fielding percentage, committing just five errors.

His contacts within the organization stretch from front office to clubhouse.

"I do a Phillies' Fantasy Camp in January. I see John Kruk, Ricky Jordan, Kevin Stocker and a lot of guys I played with," Morandini said. "The Phillies' organization has always been more of a 'family' thing. They really take care of their players now and those in the past."

The 1993 team lost to Toronto in six games and also featured Darren Daulton, Lenny Dykstra, Dave Hollins, Milt Thompson, Pete Incaviglia, and pitchers Curt Schilling, Danny Jackson, Terry Mulholland, Bobby Thigpen and Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams.

It was Williams who served up the series-winning home run to Joe Carter.

For years, the Philadelphia media has had a reputation for running overrated players and inept managers out of town. Morandini said not much has changed.

"The print media is pretty fair overall," he said. "It's the sports talk shows that are really bad. It doesn't matter what you do, they're out to rip ya and make sure people are listening. It's even worse than some of the Chicago stuff here.

"But the media was pretty good to me. As long as you go out and play hard, do the right things and make yourself available win or lose, the city really backs you and the print media is not too bad."

There is speculation Morandini could return to Philly to throw out the first pitch at Citizens Bank Park in a Series game there, but nothing official yet.

"There's no place I'd rather play than in front of 50,000 screaming Philadelphia fans," he said. "Even as a player, if you don't get (to the Series), you can't even imagine what it's like. There's hundreds of media people stalking you. The fans are unbelievable. You can't go out because you're being hounded.

"You have a lot of pressure, especially for teams that haven't won in a while like the Cubs and Phillies. But there's no greater spotlight to be in."